


Midnight

by Bitterblue



Series: Daemons and Demons [4]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, we all need more hdm au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 23:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9262712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitterblue/pseuds/Bitterblue
Summary: Maggie's point of view through Noktomezo. A disambiguation of sorts.





	

She's still holding the DEO agent's hand as they land in a tangled pile of limbs, the other woman's elbow winding Maggie hard enough her vision goes black for a moment. She blinks up into the dark sky and dark eyes as stars (real or from a blow to the head, she's not sure) dance across her vision. And then the moment is over, vision clearing, and the agent scrambles to her feet to offer a hand to help Maggie up, too.

"Thanks for, uh, saving my life?" The agent _almost_ smiles, like she wants to but thinks she shouldn't.

"Wouldn't've had to if you weren't snooping in my jurisdiction." Maggie shakes her head, laughing, and Kogi leans reassuringly against the back of her calves.

 

* * *

 

The DEO agent with the bird daemon is Alex Danvers, which is interesting, because to the best of Maggie's (very excellent) detecting skills, Alex Danvers barely even _exists_. She manages to dig up a few educational records and precious little else.

It's just intellectual curiosity. Absolutely.

Kogi exists as a continuous eye-roll of a cat daemon.

They run into each other again not much later, this crime scene less actively dangerous as they step under police tape and discuss potential murder suspects. A sharp pull between them has Kogi running to catch up, tail accidentally brushing the agent's hand. Maggie feels warm all over, but it's probably just the lack of oxygen as she chokes in surprise. They've never been careless like _that_. It's anathema.

 

* * *

 

She is, maybe, a little bit drunk. It's a warm, bubbly kind of drunk, the kind that could convince someone to drink again in search of it, though Maggie isn't entirely convinced it's the alcohol and not the company doing it to her. Alex Danvers sits across from her, her small black daemon on the table and Kogi curled up under it, between Maggie's feet.

"Nok's a chough."

"Short for anything?"

"Noktomezo. It means midnight in Esperanto. My parents..." Alex sighs, puts her head in her hand, "were enormous nerds."

"Yeah? I like nerds." Maggie doesn't _mean_ to, it just happens.

A slow, sparkling warmth creeps up her shins as she realizes Kogi has wrapped his tail around Alex's ankle. Maggie doesn't make him move.

 

* * *

 

(Maggie lies in her cramped apartment with Kogi curled up, warm and drowsy, against her side, his unnecessary breaths coming as a deep, rumbling purr of contentment. They know that most people prefer to speak with their daemons, but they've always had a particular quiet to them. An understanding that stretches beyond words.

Maggie lies in her cramped apartment in her cool bed and thinks about her family, still in Nebraska. Age has not changed them: they are still the sun and the sky, and she's the earth and the trees. She thinks of Alex and Nok, and smiles in the darkness to herself as Kogi imagines deep oceans and moonlight. Alex could draw her in and drown her, and Maggie doesn't think she'd mind.)

 

* * *

 

The bar is crowded. When they'd parted ways earlier in the afternoon, Maggie had asked Alex to come, and she definitely hasn't spent the intervening time thinking about the startled, pleased expression that had briefly flashed across Alex's face.

She and Kogi weave through the crowd expertly, dodging people and their daemons to bring beers back to Alex and Nok. The table is small. Kogi, for lack of space, drapes himself across her feet, but they're all tangled and he's laying on Alex's boots.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's kind of...y'know... _inappropriate_ to touch someone else's daemon?"

_Kogi's doing it on purpose_ , Maggie wants to say, _to fluster you_ , _and it's working_ , but it's working for them _both_ , so she just laughs.

 

* * *

 

The meta-human they're fighting turns towards Maggie's cover, shouting with frosty breath as Supergirl touches down between them. Supergirl dodges, and Maggie ducks behind the dumpster she's using as cover. The frost finds something small and dark instead.

She doesn't hesitate. The meta-human is distracted by Supergirl, now, and Maggie doesn't _think_ that falling will hurt Nok or Alex but she _definitely_ doesn't want to find out for sure. She dashes to catch him, pulling his almost-nothing bird-daemon weight to her. Cradling him in her hands, she runs to where she last saw Alex.

"Medic! I need a medic!" she shouts, spotting Alex crumpled behind a truck. Maggie tucks Nok into the inside pocket of her jacket, next to her heart, and zips it closed.

 

* * *

 

She almost fights the medic who wants to clean up her cuts when she thinks it means they'll make her leave Alex's side. Nok woke up as they came back into the DEO headquarters, but Alex is still out, and Maggie doesn't want to miss it when she does wake.

After clarification and cleaning and a handful of butterflies across her cheekbone, Maggie collapses in one of the two chairs in the room, facing the bed. Nok, restlessly hopping around Alex, fixes her with one dark eye, then the other, and then flies across the few feet to perch on her shoulder. He settles into her hair and the collar of her jacket, a feeling not unlike distilled sunlight spreading slowly down into her heart.

 

* * *

 

They don't really talk about it—don't see each other for over a week. Maggie's still a cop and she has cop things to do, and Alex has DEO work. (When Alex tells her the meta-human is going by "Snow Queen," she rolls her eyes so hard she thinks Alex could almost hear it over the phone.)

When they finally do see each other, it's in the bar. Maggie's week has been more paperwork than she'd ideally prefer and significantly too few excuses to drop by the DEO. Alex is there, leaning across the pool table. Kogi starts his slow rumble-purr. Maggie smiles, watching Alex, who must feel herself being watched, as she looks up. Maggie tips her head to the side, still smiling. Alex misses.

 

* * *

 

Maggie joins them after getting a drink, then stays long after Winn makes an excuse to leave. She never loved pool, though it was a staple in the police academy and she'd have said she was decent at it, but Alex is _good_ and Alex is _distracting_ , and Maggie isn't doing so well.

"You're holding the cue all wrong."

Maggie is three drinks in and Kogi is still leaning behind her knees, and she feels bold as she says, "So show me how to do it."

Alex smiles faintly, and wraps an arm around her to correct her grip. "Like this." Maggie doesn't shiver as Alex touches her hand (but she _wants_ to). Nok hops under Maggie's elbow, and stars rush to her fingertips, electric.

 

* * *

 

She makes the shot this time, Alex pressed into her side and Nok still under her arm.

Maggie thinks of every complaint every woman has had about her lack of intimacy, about her unwillingness to bend, about _her_ and about _Kogi_ and about _them_. She thinks, but not for long, because Kogi begins to wind serpentine loops around their ankles. It's distracting and too much. Maggie takes a half step back and stands properly, smiling warmly. "Thanks for the help."

"Yeah. Always. No problem." Alex stands, too, and she hasn't moved away from Maggie—improbably, she shifts a little closer. Kogi leans against both of their knees, starting to purr again. There is an expression Maggie wants very much to read as _want_ in Alex's eyes, wide and dark. "I don't think I knew...I mean, I guess he's a daemon, but—I didn't know wild cats could—"

Maggie reaches up, cups Alex's cheeks in her hands, and leans up to kiss her before the moment is lost. She sighs happily as Alex relaxes against her, deepening the kiss. She can feel the pin-prick of Nok's feet as he hops up her arm, settling on her shoulder.

Alex pulls back, just enough to breathe. Maggie can feel her smile. She smiles back, and Alex's hands find her waist, her hips, pulling Maggie close to kiss her again.


End file.
